Assumptions and Jealousy
by iwantobemorethanwhoiam
Summary: Castle made the painful tred toward the woman who would never love him back.


**A/N: Ficlet prompt from two anons: 1. (Before Castle & Beckett got together) A detective hits on Beckett. 2. Beckett confronts Castle about his behavior between 47 seconds and head hunters.**

He had told her he was going to lunch with Jacinda. When he got off the elevator, he started walking toward her desk but stopped in his tracks after just a few steps. Beckett was sitting forward in her chair, another detective he recognized but couldn't remember the name of was sitting in his chair. She laughed then put a hand on his forearm. How could one laugh, one smile, make him fall in love with her all over again?….Except she wasn't laughing at or with him. She caught sight of him and her smile disappeared as she looked back at the other man, said something, then he said something back and got up and left. Castle made the painful tred toward the woman who would never love him back.

"How was your lunch?"

He sat down in his chair. "Great! I had this amazing steak and Jacinda had the lobster-" She was coldly smiling and nodding, much like you would do with an older relative at a family function who keeps asking questions and you couldn't be less interested. "-and you don't care." He looked at the murder board. "Anything new?"

Later that evening, Beckett was at her desk trying to get a warrant. Just as she hung up, Castle sat down in his chair. "They won't give us a warrant to check the crate."

"Why not?"

"It's not in our jurasdiction, it was a long shot."

Castle looked past her at the detective from ealier who was making his way toward them.

"Ready to go?"

Beckett sighed, looked at her computer than back at him. "I'm sorry, I can't, this case is-"

"Hey, it's fine. See you tomorrow?"

She smiled at him. "Yeah." He walked away.

"New boyfriend?"

"Could be." He scoffed and shook his head. "What's that supposed to mean? You're dating a flight attendant you met 3 days ago."

Was that jealousy he detected? No, he was just overthinking it.

"Beckett?" Ryan was walking over to her desk. After running down a lead then deciding to call it a night, Ryan and Espo left first, Beckett was at her desk putting her jacket on when Castle walked past her toward the elevator.

"Castle?"

He turned around to look at her. "Yeah?"

She nervously folded her hands together. "Can we talk?"

"Why don't you just go talk to your boyfriend." And with that he left without another word.

She was in her car in front of his building. God, she couldn't believe she was doing this, begging for answers from a man who didn't really have to give them to her. After taking a deep breath, she got out of her car and made her way up to his loft. She hesitated before knocking but when she did, it was Alexis who answered.

"Oh, hi Detective Beckett."

"Hi Alexis…." she looked past the teenager, into the loft, "is your dad home?"

"He's in his office." She moved to the side to let the detective in.

"Mind if I go talk to him?"

"Yeah. But whatever." She disappeared up the stairs.

Beckett made her way through the living room, the back of her mind wondering why Alexis was mad at her too. She knocked on the closed door to his office. "Alexis, you don't have to knock." She slowly opened the door. "You're not Alexis."

"No." She walked toward his desk where he was sitting.

"Why are you here?"

She let out a shaky breath. "Because we need to talk."

"About what?"

"During that bombing case, you were gonna tell me something," he sat back in his chair, "but the case got in the way and after, you said it wasn't important."

"It's not."

"But since then, you've been acting weird, distant." He didn't say anything, just gave her a look. A look that said he was hurt, he was done getting hurt. Then she remembered. The coffe after her interrogation with Bobby Lopez. There was no way he didn't hear her. "You were in observation when I was interrogating Bobby Lopez, weren't you?"

"Yeah but you don't have to explain anything. I get it. Now I'm just trying to move on. Obviously you're done acting too."

"Castle, what are you talking about? Yes, I heard you tell me you love me but I couldn't deal with that after everything that happened. When I came to your book signing, I thought you understood that!"

He stood up. "Understood what?! That you don't feel the same way?! That you're just stringing me along?!"

Beckett looked at him with tear rimmed eyes, mouth agape. "Are you kidding me right now? How could you honestly think I don't feel the same way?!"

"Then what was this last year? And this…new guy?"

"I go to therapy once maybe a twice every week, sometimes if it's a really bad week, like these last few, it's even more than that. Castle, I didn't want to jump into anything before I dealt with everything that's happened. With my mom. With my shooting. Montgomery….My feelings for you. Carter, he's a nice guy, he's what I needed to start getting over you."

With that, he took two large steps toward her, wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into a deep, passionate kiss. Her hands ended up on his shoulders. After a few seconds, they parted their lips, foreheads resting together. "Jacinda goes to my mother's acting school." Beckett lifted her head from his and furrowed her brow. "I was hurt and mad and I thought…I don't know what I thought."

"No more thinking." She lifted her lips to his, moving her hands to the nape of his neck, playing with the hair there.


End file.
